Oh, baby! Yasiel may become a hit with soon-to-be parents

Puig-mania that has swept Dodgers nation may lead some parents to name their children after the Cuban phenomenon, experts say.

Many credit Yasiel Puig, the 22-year-old outfielder who made his Major League debut in June, for igniting the last-place Dodgers to being the hottest team in baseball. Puig had 44 hits in his first month in the majors, a record, which is only bested by Joe DiMaggio in 1936.

Much of Puig’s history is a mystery, other than he played for the Cuban national team and defected from Cuba after several failed attempts. But his enigmatic smile and hot bat have been enough to captivate fans.

Superstar athletes have been known to inspire baby names. One of the most popular examples is Kobe Bryant. “Kobe” entered the Social Security Administration’s Top 1,000 most popular baby names in 1997, the year after Bryant was drafted into the NBA. The name has maintained popularity throughout his career.

Laura Wattenberg, author and founder of website babynamewizard.com, said there are many factors pointing to the potential boom of Yasiels born in 2013. She said there are similarities between “Kobe” and “Yasiel,” which indicates “Yasiel” may gain popularity.

“Kobe, Yasiel, are cool names that sit with current trends and what parents are looking for,” she said. “That’s when you really strike gold.”

Wattenberg said parents care about sound and style when it comes to baby names. She said the suffix “iel” is “the sound of the moment.”

“It makes sense that it would catch on with parents because that’s a sound that people are looking for,” she said.

She also said biblical names are popular.

Yasiel means, “Whom God made.” The Biblical name Jasiel is Hebrew. Jasiel was one of the warriors in David’s army.

Frank Nuessel, a professor at the University of Louisville and editor of Names: A Journal of Onomastics, said there are three types of parents when it comes to naming their child: ones who pick out their baby’s name before it is even conceived, ones who talk about it a few months before the baby is due and ones who wait until after the baby is born to talk baby names.

He said the latter parents might be likely to get caught up in Puig-mania and name their baby after a popular athlete or celebrity at the moment.

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One baby named Yasiel was born in L.A. County on June 23, according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health.

Yasiel is most popular in Florida. It began appearing in the late 1990s.

Fewer than 50 children were named Yasiel in the U.S. between 2000 and 2010, according to Social Security Administration data.

Yasiel may be more likely to gain popularity as a baby name if the Dodgers make a run at the World Series.

“In the middle of a pennant race, to sort of make the baby naming part of that, especially if it marks a memorable event like a World Series Championship,” said Wattenberg.

However, not all popular athletes have inspired popular baby names.

For example, LeBron never caught on as a popular baby name although LeBron James had widespread popularity, Wattenberg said.

She attributes that to the fact that the “Le” prefix was popular in the 70s and 80s.

“It’s really about having the right name,” she said.

Nuessel said it will take about a decade to see if Yasiel catches on as a popular baby name.

“There’s this notion of ‘name magic’,” he said. “If you name your child after an illustrious person, he or she will be endowed somehow mystically with the powers that the famous person has. I don’t believe it, personally. But I’m thinking I would be hesitant to name my child after somebody that’s become a whirlwind on the scene. I’d like to see a long history of positive behavior and excellence.”